G624 pm

ما

DOC

OCTOR FORDYCE's excellent Ser

mons for Young Women in some meafure gave

rise to the following compilation. In that work, where he fo judiciously points out all the defects of female conduct to remedy them, and all the proper studies which they should pursue, with a view to improvement, Poetry is one to which he particularly would attach them. He only objects to the danger of pursuing this charming study through all the immoralities and false pictures of hap

A

piness

1

cence.

1

piness with which it abounds, and thus be-
coming the martyr of innocent curiosity.

In the following compilation care has been

taken to selet, not only such pieces as in-

nocence may read without a blush, but such

as will even tend to strengthen that inno-

In this little work a Lady may

find the most exquisite pleasure, while she is

at the same time learning the duties of life;

and, while she courts only entertainment,

be deceived into wisdom. Indeed, this

would be too great a boast in the preface to

any original work; but here it can be made

with safety, as every Poem in the following

collection would singly have procured an

Author great reputation.

They are divided into Devotional, Moral,

and Entertaining, thus comprehending the
three great duties of life; that which we
owe to GOD, to our neighbour, and to
ourselves.

In the first part, it must be confessed, our
English Poets have not very much excelled.

In that department, namely, the praise of
our Maker, by which Poetry began, and
from which it deviated by time, we are most
faultily deficient.

There are one or two,
however, particularly the Deity, by Mr.
Boyse; a Poem, when it first came out, that
lay for some time neglected, till introduced
to public notice by Mr. Hervey and Mr.
Fielding. In it the Reader will perceive
many striking pictures, and perhaps glow
with a part of that gratitude which seems to
have inspired the Writer.

In the Moral part I am more copious, from
the same reason, because our language con-
tains a large number of the kind. Voltaire,
talking of our Poets, gives them the pre-
ference in moral pieces to those of any

other
nation; and indeed no Poets have better
fettled the bounds of duty, or more pre-
cisely determined the rules for conduct in
life than ours. In this department the fair
Reader will find the Muse has been folicitous

1

to guide her, not with the allurements of a
fyren, but the integrity of a friend.

In the Entertaining part my greatest diffi-

culty was what to reject. The materials

lay in such plenty, that I was bewildered in

my choice ; in this case then I was solely

determined by the tendency of the Poem ;

and where I found one, however well exe-

cuted, that seemed in the least tending to

diffort the judgment, or inflame the imagi-

nation, it was excluded without mercy. I

have here and there indeed, when one of

particular beauty offered with a few ble-

mishes, lopt off the defects, and thus, like

the tyrant, who fitted all strangers to the

bed he had prepared for them, I have in-

serted fome, by first adapting them to my

plan ; we only differ in this, that he mu-

tilated with a bad design, I from motives

of a contrary nature.

It will be easier to condemn a compilation

of this kind, than to prove its inutility.
While young Ladies are readers, and while